


Illium Skylines

by RustyPenguin



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Adventure, Eventual Romance, F/F, Mass Effect - Freeform, Post-Reaper War, Sci-Fi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-19 16:09:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19136116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RustyPenguin/pseuds/RustyPenguin
Summary: Things start to happen around the galaxy, but this time the Normandy Crew can't save the day.





	Illium Skylines

It had been five years since the Reapers hit and everything was still the same on Illium, the streets still crowded with unfamiliar faces and ones that even Zara could recognise. Illium was loud this time of year as it was the five year anniversary for the Reaper Invasion. It might not seem like a thing to celebrate but people want to celebrate it. Zara wasn’t the one to celebrate things like this so the crowded streets annoyed her, but at least she was able to hide from the thugs chasing her. A deal gone wrong on Illium causes lives to be lost.

Her attire hadn’t been well thought of. Her unusual clothing for an Asari stood out like a sore thumb as she rushed through the crowds, as best as she could, to try and get away from her pursuers. She manoeuvred where she could whereas, the Blood Pack group behind her weren’t as lucky and started to disturb the crowd more than she was. People yelled at the gang as they huffed and pushed people to get to the little Asari. 

Her attire consisted of a dark grey Faux leather jacket zipped halfway up, black ripped skinny jeans, and her top was plain white. The elbows had padding as though it were safety gear. Her shoes were black combat boots with a sight heel put into them. Her facial markings were simple, a semi-thick line from the ridge of her nose. The line continued up her forehead and then splitting off into two to go down the length of her top two tendrils. Another one the same size from her bottom lip and down to above her throat. Her violet skin complimented the dark purple tattoos upon her young face. A black leather belt was placed around her waist, the buckle had a jagged green stone encased into it.

Zara’s boots carried on through the crowd when an opening to an alleyway caught her eye and she darted to it as fast as she could. Her mistake would soon be noticed once she had turned the corner and ended up in a closed-off area. The sound of feet stomping slowed down as Zara turned around slowly, exhaling and saw the group of thugs behind her, blocking her only logical exit. The Krogan chuckled to himself as his Vorchas aimed their shotguns at the Asari at the other end of the alleyway.

“You shouldn’t have run, Zara. Now we will have to kill you here.” the Krogan advanced a few steps, motioning to the surrounding area.

“Sorry, but I don’t intend on dying. Definitely not by your grubby hands.” Zara exclaimed, copying the cockiness of the Krogan before her.

The Krogans facial expressions changed as he showed his yellow teeth and just as he was about to tell the Vorcha surrounding him to open fire, the sound of police sirens filled the air and the flashing of blue lights was seen by everyone. The Krogan groaned in annoyance and Zara sighed in relief, as a single sky car landed in front of them and out came two Officers, one Turian and the other Asari, with their hand cannons out and aiming at the ghastly gang of thugs.

“Drop your weapons, now!” the Turian commanded.

The Krogan knew more than to start a fight when things were bad enough with the smugglings happening, he called back his armed forces and growled deeply towards the innocent Asari. The two officers lowered their weapons, the Turian motioned with his head towards the entrance to the alleyway of which they were positioned. The Battlemaster took this only chance to leave before things become worse for his clan. 

As the Krogan disappeared around the corner along with his bloodthirsty Vorcha, Zara exhaled a loud sigh and bending over forward and resting her hands on the top of her knees. The look of exhaustion took over her as she finally sat down on the dirty floor, she gazed up to watch the two Officers approach her. One she recognised as Anaya, the now well known Illium Detective that had worked with an Asari Justicar. The look on Anaya’s face was more than displeasing and Zara knew exactly why. The Turian, less so, he must have been her work colleague for this patrol.

“Hey, Dad. Sorry about the mess and the angry people. I tried to make it go smoothly but things got out of hand pretty badly. Well, I guess you already knew that part with the Krogan and the guns.” She explained sarcastically as her father scowled at her. 

“This is your last job, Zara. What if we didn’t get here in time to save you? What if they were faster and the crowd gave in?” Her father's face looked both concerned and angry.

Zara sighed again and got to her feet, her father only a few feet away from her. Ever since her mother died, her father had become a bit more controlling than what she usually was. She felt bad for getting caught, it wasn’t like her to get caught while doing these jobs for her father. She didn’t know what to say and no doubt her father wouldn’t even want to hear it. She hung her head low as the Turian lead her to the sky car where she sat in the back seat. Her father entered next and then the Turian. 

The humming of the sky car helped keep the silence at bay while they drove swiftly through the Illium traffic. She started to recognise her surroundings as they pulled up to an apartment complex. When they landed all three of them exited the cab, but it was only Zara and her father who continued up to the entrance. They stopped just before the doors where Anaya pulled her to the right-hand side. The look in her father’s eyes knew that she shouldn’t disobey any orders from now on.

“You’re staying here until I get back and even after that you stay here because I can’t trust you any more to make good with the deals we are trying to make.” Anaya took a moment to sigh and looked at her daughter in her electric yellow eyes. “I just don’t want you getting hurt, I know it’s been hard for you with your mother but you need to be strong right now.”

Another silence was called between them as Anaya sent Zara the access codes to get into the apartment. It seems weird but in case anyone did manage to catch her then they wouldn't be able to find out where she lived. Her Omnitool pinged giving her father a reason to leave, Zara’s gotten used to her not saying ‘Goodbye’ or ‘See you later’. She watched her father return back to the sky car that brought her here and then, no sooner than a few seconds, they were out of sight. Zara sighed and started to make her way to her father’s apartment.

The journey up was quiet, the natural onlookers took in the sight of Zara, she ignored their stares like always and continued to the lift. The lift took about 5 minutes because their apartment was near the top. On the way up, more pervy Turians and Humans sent her sideways glances. She wanted to retaliate or at least tell them to stop, but she knew better than to start an argument in a lift which could easily be stopped. Once she reached her floor, she exited the lift and turn right. As Zara continued down the small hallway she felt the weight of the world, and her father slowly releases her.

She got to her door and walked inside, the door closing automatically behind her. She took off her jacket and placed it on the coat hanger near the door. The apartment was small but big enough for her father’s work and for her to have enough space for herself. As you walk in, to the right of the door was a medium-sized open kitchen. To the left were windows covering the wall from the floor to the ceiling. In front of the door, across the room was a three-part corner sofa coloured in a dark brown and a single chair to its right side facing the TV screen. A spiral staircase in the far back right corner, next to an office which her father had occupied leading up to her room. Her father's room was on the bottom floor, to the right of the office.

Zara walked towards the kitchen to grab something to eat when her Omnitool buzzed, it was a message from a pen pal she had made whilst visiting Thessia for the first time. Her name was Dalkanna, she was a few years older than Zara, but then again most Asari is older than her because of her only being 88. It wasn’t easy for her to make friends growing up, she only ever knew Illium. Her parents moved here before she was born, which is where they wanted to grow a new life and ended up having her. Her father got her job with the Detective agency, while her Mom worked as a part-time artist doing commission work for the best buyer. The pay was alright for both of them but it kept the bills paid and food in the cupboards so they couldn’t complain.

Tarika, her mother, was always known for her beauty among Asari, many were said to have asked her why she was with Anaya and she would simply respond with, ‘Because I love her.’ The thought made a chill go down Zara’s spine, but she respected her mother just as much as she does her father. Her mother died before she turned 40, the police say it was suicide but she had no reason to do such a thing. Ever since then, it's been, Zara and Anaya. 

As she was scurrying around the kitchen, finding food to eat she opened the message from Dalkanna. Dalkanna was a vet with her father, Kudrak. He was a Krogan. As she read the message, Zara made herself a sandwich. The message read: “Hey you! Hope you’re ok, haven't heard from you in a while. Wondering if you're still alive. I'm free right now if you want to call. I don't remember the time difference with each planet. Hope to hear from you soon! Dalkanna”.

Dalkanna was a teal coloured, tattooless Asari, who can be fun and games one minute but then change to a loving and caring person the next, and thank her Krogan heritage when she got mad almost nothing would stand in her way.

Zara chuckled at her friend's message knowing how worried one Asari can get. So with a roll of her eyes, Zara called her and within a few bleeps came to the face of her pen pal. Dalkannas face was clean of facial marks and her skin pigment was ocean blue. Her eyes were a fiery orange with the biggest grin on her face with white teeth showing through the Omni-tool. Zara took a bite out of her sandwich in clear view of Dalkanna and the grin shifted into a frown.

“And where's my sandwich?” Dalkanna huffed as she puffed her cheeks out.

“In your kitchen,” Zara replied, finishing her mouthful.

“Can't you come here and make it? Father's made sure I was busy today. My arms hurt from having to carry Varren around. Not just puppy Varren though, some were fully grown.”

“I'm sure you've managed all the same, Anna.”

“Ha! You would’ve managed better. You and your abs, poking through your shirt. Damn you and your extreme workouts!” Dalkanna shook her left fist with an angry expression on her face.

A few seconds passed before they both burst into laughter. After Zara had finally regained her ability to breath properly she took another bite out of her sandwich, continuing without choking on in whilst watching Dalkanna laughing. Their friendship started when Zara bumped into her, not just a nudge, she pummelled into Dalkanna and made her lose her footing and they both crashed to the floor.

Zara had been running from a group of Asari who found out that she was ‘Pureblood’. When they found her, Dalkanna set the two Varren she was walking. Nobody got hurt but they did get scared when two adults sized Varren started growling and tagging their ankles, they didn’t bite down just touch it with their nose to give them warnings. The police ended up getting involved and the Varren calmed down once Dalkanna ordered them back, she went off with a warning and the 3 Asari who had managed to beat up Zara before she ran into Dalkanna, was taken into questioning. Not much happened after that but she and Dalkanna kept in contact and became very close. Whenever they needed to vent they asked each other and let everything out.

Zara finished her sandwich when she stood there, looking off into the distance past the Omnitool. Dalkanna knew something was wrong and so cleared her throat, it just about managed to bring Zara back to the conversation.

“What?” Asked Zara, confused.

“You zoned out and did the face of pain. What’s happened?” Dalkanna’s worry clearly shown.

Zara sighed and moved up to her room via the spiral staircase, she knew the apartment was empty but it felt right to talk in her room. When she walked into the dimmed room she didn’t bother turning on the lights. Zara activated her Private terminal and transferred the call to it, she leaned back in her grey desk chair and sighed heavily. She hid her face in her hands as Dalkanna grew more worried for her friend, she knew that she had to wait to talk but tonight seemed different. She cleared her throat again and reached for the cup of coffee to her right, took a sip and placed it back into its place.

“It was your Dad again, wasn’t it?” Dalkanna pondered. A small nod was all she received as she heard Zara take deep breaths, after a while, she looked her on the verge of tears.

“I screwed up, Anna. I screwed up bad.” Tears forming in her eyes, the guilt and shame catching up to her and hitting her like a brick wall.

“Hey now, don’t think that. Your dad just doesn’t know what good business i-”

“Someone died, Anna.” Zara interrupted her and silence fell between the two. Dalkanna was shocked and flabbergasted to what she heard.

“What…?” Was all she could manage.

“Someone died because I screwed up. It’s all my fault…” The tears now falling down her face, her whimpers shallow but noticeable.

“Oh, Zee…” Her heart broke hearing her cries over a vidscreen.

The sound of shuffling in the background of Dalkanna’s room and the sound of a door opening, Dalkanna looked to her right with an emotionless face. Her father came into view to see the heartbreak in front of him, most Krogan don't show remorse but Kudrak was different as he wanted to show people that he was just as normal. He saw Zara as his own daughter and she knew it.

“Zara, Little Light, look at me.” His grumbling yet calming voice helped Zara stop crying and look up.

“I don’t know what was said but whatever it is, regardless of it being good or bad, you take it in and you carry it with you. It sounds bad but as long as you know you did what you could, you did nothing wrong. Understand?”

Zara wiped her eyes and sat up straight, her training for the Commandos settling in. She took a few deep breaths and looked at Kudrak in the eyes.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Haha, good! Now, as you were Pyjak.” He smiled and nodded at the two Asari then left the room.

“You going to be ok or am I going to have to book a flight to Illium and give you a Krogan-Asari hug?” The sarcastic tone of Dalkanna’s voice calming Zara down a little more and helped her relax.

Zara laughed at her friend’s unusual outlook on life and smiled at her.

“Maybe, but you’ve got work tomorrow and I know your father won’t let you have the time-off considering its mating season for the Varren on Thessia. Didn’t even realise you could find Varren on Thessia until I met you.”

“They are weird creatures but their main home is Tuchanka, they’ve just been breeding and then the pups brought up in new environments which have caused them to adapt.” 

Zara nodded and they both fell silent again. Looking at each other, slight smirks on both of their faces.

“Thank you for calming me down, Anna. I guess I owe you again, eh?” Dalkanna chuckled at her friend in response.

“You look shattered, go to bed and I’ll be here when you get up.” 

Zara rolled her eyes but admitted to herself that it had been a long and eventful day. She then sighed knowing that she would have to go to her part-time job with the mechanics tomorrow, so maybe an early night would be good for her. After saying goodnight to Dalkanna, she changed into a white vest and boxer shorts. She brushed her teeth and climbed into her double bed, turned her alarm on and settled into a deep sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This was something I thought I could do to pass time, now it's done and chapters can be added. Stay safe!


End file.
